Leoni sharpens its forecast for the year

Leoni AG has sharpened its sales and earnings forecast for the current financial year. The Management Board’s projections for fiscal 2012 are now sales of between EUR 3.8 and 3.9 billion and EBIT of EUR 230 to 250 million.

The company's previous estimates were sales of between EUR 3.8 and 4 billion and EBIT of EUR 230 to 280 million. The key reasons for this range-narrowing were the Company’s business performance in the 2nd quarter as well as the as the prospects for demand during the remaining months of the financial year.

Decisive for the adjustment is the development of demand still being significantly beyond expectation and leading to a strong business performance in the second quarter again. Based on provisional figures, Leoni generated once more record quarterly results with sales of about EUR 943 million and EBIT of roughly EUR 67 million from April to June. Thus, in the first half of the year sales come to about EUR 1.854 billion and EBIT to about EUR 129 million. The raised estimates are also based on continuous positive business prospects for the second half of the year.

For the 1st half of 2012, sales thus amount to about EUR 1.937 billion and EBIT comes to roughly EUR 145 million, with the earnings figure given a non-recurring boost of EUR 28 million from the sale of Leoni Studer Hard AG in the 1st quarter. Leoni is confident that it will meet this sharpened forecast despite the second quarter, which fell short of capital market expectations.